Saskatchewan RCMP renew call for answers as missing persons case reaches 50-year mark

WATCH: Saskatchewan RCMP are renewing a call for answers in a historical missing persons case, as the family continues to seek closure.

It was the early morning of Aug. 2, 1975, in the Town of Hudson Bay, Sask. when Irene Scherban was last seen. Today, she would be 66.

The then-teenager was hosting a party that night, a little over a week after her sixteenth birthday.

Early the next morning, Scherban was last seen around 3 a.m. in front of her home. Extensive investigations and searches took place in the years that followed, but even 50 years later, she remains missing.

The case currently falls under the jurisdiction of the Saskatchewan RCMP Historical Case Unit (HCU), who continue to investigate Scherban’s disappearance, which is believed to be suspicious in nature.

“This case is not forgotten. Even after 50 years, we remain committed to seeking the truth,” Cpl. Tanya Gordon, an investigator with the HCU said in a news release ahead of Saturday’s anniversary. “We will continue to investigate Irene’s disappearance with the hope of uncovering answers and providing her family with the closure they deserve.”

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Scherban’s family has long sought answers into what happened that night in 1975, especially her mother Pauline, who passed away in 2022 at the age of 92. Even her obituary reflects her years-long search efforts, saying “she never lost hope for news of her beloved, youngest daughter Irene.”

Her surviving family continues to honour Irene’s memory, including Irene’s niece Briane Jennifer Webb, who was born two months after her aunt’s disappearance.

“Now, we will lay a marker that reads, ‘May she find peace here between the parents who never gave up hope of her return.’ We place it not because we have closure, but because we carry that love and longing forward,” Webb said.

“After all these years, we still believe someone out there knows something. If you do, please come forward, so Irene’s story can finally be complete, and our family can find the peace we’ve been searching for.”

At the time of her disappearance, Irene Scherban was believed to have been wearing blue jeans, a blouse and possibly a blue corduroy jacket along with two Hudson Bay Composite High School silver insignia rings. She was not wearing shoes.

Anyone with information about Irene’s disappearance is asked to report it to police or anonymously through Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers.

Hudson Bay is located approximately 200 kilometres north of Yorkton.